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I have upvoted other comments on this thread that mentioned Walden and Desert Solitaire, both of which should be on every outdoor and ecology enthusiast's reading list, and noted other comments that mentioned books I haven't read yet, but have to agree that A Sand County Almanac is the number one book that every outdoor enthusiast should read.

My top two, Sand County Almanac and Walden have been mentioned, but close runners-up would be:

One Man's Wilderness, which is the journal entries of Richard Preonneke.

All of Sigurd F. Olson's work is excellent, Reflections From The North Country being among my all around favorites.

Much of Bern Heinrich's work is great as well. Winter World and Summer World taught me a lot. He is perhaps not as poetic as Olson, but his scientific understanding of the natural world in North America is likely unrivaled by anyone else alive today.

If you're a fan of poetry, Robert Frost is an obvious suggestion. While everybody knows at least a few of his most famous poems, there are hundreds of lesser known works that put the love of the wilderness and nature in to words like nobody else could. Into My Own, A Lone Striker, The Sound of Trees, October, Good Hours, The Onset, Reluctance, all are poems that many outdoors enthusiasts can identify strongly with.

All of these works have a common theme. Observation, and through observation, appreciation, of the smaller elements of nature that are around you. Sweeping vistas and shockingly beautiful meadows of wild flowers are great, but the drama and beauty that exists all around you at any moment can be tough to see, and these men all give great insight in to how to find it.

I think this is an important read, but it's a hard one. I spent the entire book first identifying strongly with him, and then cringing as each mistake piled up, and then practically despondent when I realized just how horrific the end really was.

For enjoyable reading, I wouldn't recommend it. If you're looking for a case study in escapism and how things can go wrong, it's hard to beat.

When you consider McCandless from my perspective, you quickly see that what he did wasn't even particularly daring, just stupid, tragic, and inconsiderate. First off, he spent very little time learning how to actually live in the wild. He arrived at the Stampede Trail without even a map of the area. If he [had] had a good map he could have walked out of his predicament [... ] Essentially, Chris McCandless committed suicide.

That quote really struck it home for me. At first I almost admired his journey but quickly realized how reckless he was being. If I really wanted TI live off the land in a permanent way you'd be damn sure I'd do it in such a way to guarantee success.

This book was ruined by Krakauer IMO. I picked it up thinking it was about McCandless' adventure but to much of it was Krakauer banging on about how he was like McCandless and how he could empathize with him. I left me feeling like Krakauer was trying to leach off the relationship the reader was developing with McCandless.

IIRC, Krakauer got his start writing magazine articles, and that is somewhat why his books are so easy to get into and read. On the other hand, the magazine investigation format often leaves out details that the author doesn't think are that relevant and in other places makes connections between events seem more important than they are to make the story flow.

Les Stroud has a book called "Will To Live" which is essentially him ecounting well known survival stories and giving his opinion on them at the end. He staying diplomatic, you get a sense that he found McCandless pretty stupid to do what he did, and lucky to have survived as long as he could.

Read Gary Snyder. He mostly condensed ideas that would be appropriate themes for big books into short poems.

Many of his poems are more directly connected to wilderness than Axe Handles but I think this one is a nice introduction to his philosophy. I interpret his works as ongoing research into understanding one's personal relation to harmonizing with the rest of the universe.

Get one of his books and read it deep in the forest or desert, or on a beach far from restaurants. Or wherever else you're at at the time.

I've heard parts of that book; sounded great. I'll check it out and read all of it sometime. I remember the grandfather telling how he knew the little girl was lost from the concentric circles of nature

A hilarious look at his shitty attempts to hike the appalachian trail.

Great description right there. I enjoyed the book but was really annoyed that half way through the scope changed from walking the whole thing, to just experiencing parts of it. If he hadn't had built it up as being about hiking the whole thing, it would have been more enjoyable to read.

I don't know about the other two, but silent spring was written by a woman who has no science background, on a chemical that she knew nothing about, and started a movement that has led to the death of millions of African's from malaria. That is a fictional book at best, and certainly not one I would recommend for someone wanting to expand the knowledge.